ENDICOTT – He knew it'd be difficult, the golf world knew it'd be difficult.

Still, Kevin Sutherland was surprised. At a driver that developed a mind of its own overnight, about doing virtually nothing on the greens until it mattered little. And certainly about needing a late-round surge to scrape out a 74, a day removed from the closest thing to perfect he'll ever produce on the golf course.

"The two things I did really well Saturday is I drove the ball great and I putted well — putted great, actually," he said of the root of his Champions Tour record-setting 59. "Today I didn't drive the ball well and I didn't putt very well, and the score showed that.

"Usually it's not that dramatic, not a 15-shot difference. Today it was."

Yeah, 15. As in, 13-under in Round 2 of the Dick's Sporting Goods Open to forge a single-stroke advantage with 18 remaining, and then 2-over to drop into a share of seventh, four back of 56-year-old victory machine Bernhard Langer.

A virtually do-no-wrong Saturday gave way to a do-little-right Sunday.

He bull's-eyed 10 of 14 fairways in Round 2, five in the final round. Those 33 strokes of the putter offered up Sunday represented a 50-percent rise — Fifty! That indescribable front-side of 28 en route to the record ballooned to 40 in his third go-round at En-Joie.

These eyes found it difficult to watch.

No one expected anything close to Saturday's magic, of which Langer said, "To watch that 59 yesterday that could have been a 57, just watching that on the leader board was exciting."

But a healthy percentage probably had Sutherland ticketed for serious title contention in his third go at the 50-and-over circuit, given the uncanny control of his game and his emotions demonstrated along the way to that dreamlike round.

"I was tired today, actually," Sutherland said. "It was an emotional day, a lot of energy was expended yesterday and I think I just had a hard time getting into the round early. I wasn't playing very well and I made some mistakes, I think I was pressing a little bit too much early and I made a few mistakes just because I was — I'm not going to say trying too hard, I was trying to make something happen.

"And I made some dumb bogeys — unforced bogeys, I should say."

Such as the three-putt at the second, and the failure to get down in two after sending a tee ball to the back fringe at the fourth, and adding a third bogey at the par-5 eighth when he was unable to get up and down from a greenside bunker.

"Some of the mistakes I was making was just lack of focus," he said. Undeniable evidence came at the 10th where, inexplicably, he delivered a tee ball with a hybrid into the pond fronting the green. He grabbed a stroke back by holing a 10-footer at the 11th, only to fall back to 4-over on the day by spilling a shot at the par-5 12th.

"I've heard, talking to Paul Goydos and a few other guys, they say the hardest round they've ever had is the day after they shoot 59," Sutherland shared. But in the wake of that 74, having experienced all that goes into playing the "day after," he was asked just what makes it so trying.

"I think one thing about it is, there's this feeling … " he said, from people texting, calling, e-mailing and the like. "There's this feeling the tournament's over. And it's not. You get this feeling that you've won something. You've done something very well but you haven't won anything and there's still golf to be played.

"I was conscious of that, but it's easier said than done."

Admirable was the way he continued to grind through the disappointment with no discernible change in demeanor. In fact, despite walking off the 14th green 4-over on the day and with championship aspirations long since shoveled under, he shared a bit of banter on the next tee box that had caddie Billy Lewis cracking up.

At the 15th, statistically En-Joie's most demanding challenge, Sutherland found the fairway and deposited an approach to can't-miss range. At the 18th, where a day before he logged his lone bogey that ruled out an unprecedented 58, he rolled one in from 8-10 feet for birdie.

"I'm glad I made birdie on two of the last four to make it a little more respectable, but I'm still disappointed," he said.

But from this vantage point, here's what truly defined Kevin Sutherland.

First off, there was no chasing him down to speak with him post-round — and do know, some in his position would have found an alternate route devoid of reporters. Nope, not only was he willing to speak, but he recommended relocating to a position where his voice could be heard above the high-volume salute of Langer on the 18th green.

He was open, candid, dodged nary a question. There were no two-word answers, no hint of impatience. He explained to the best of his ability what went haywire, how and why. Here was a guy who had to be crushed, but he manned up.

I tipped my cap — but had to ask: "How are you handling this so well?"

"I really try hard not to be the score, you know what I'm saying?" he said. "In the sense that, who I am and how I feel about myself isn't dictated by what the scorecard says.

"My friends are giving me a really hard time on the phone last night, 'You don't seem that excited.' I go, 'Oh, I'm excited.' I don't know, I just try to be the same person. Trust me, it's hard. I'm very disappointed, but I'm not going to go punch a car or anything like that.

"I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, it's just my thing."

Kevin Sutherland will be remembered by thousands hereabouts for the 59 he fashioned in Round 2 of the 2014 Dick's Sporting Goods Open.

But there's one guy who'll remember him for the class and poise he demonstrated in the aftermath of extreme day-after disappointment. That, it says here, reveals far more about a man.

Stevens can be reached at kstevens@gannett.com, or find him on Twitter at @PSBKevin.